Night Watch
by Nelbertine
Summary: A military coup in Russia takes the Bartlet Administration to the brink of a nuclear abyss. Rated T for language and some violence. Set in Mid Season 5.
1. Chapter 1

**DAY I**

**THE WHITE HOUSE**

Charlie walked into the President's outer office and Debbie Fiderer was already sat at her desk. Charlie looked at his watch.

"It's quarter to six on Sunday morning. What are you doing here?"

"What makes you think I ever leave. For all you know, I have a bed under this desk and spend my nights walking the halls and offices in quiet solitude." Charlie looked at her and raised and eyebrow, and Debbie shrugged. "I need the overtime. I wanna buy a Trans Am."

"A Trans Am?"

Debbie looked up from her paperwork at the tone of sarcasm in Charlie's voice.

"Yes, Mr Derisory, A Trans Am. What, you don't think a middle aged woman can own a muscle car?" Charlie looked confused. It was too early in the morning for a conversation this left field.

"I'm going in there to...I left something in there last night."

Debbie regarded him carefully.

"Really. What was it?"

"Important papers...of state."

"Oh, important papers of state" Debbie parroted. "You're going in there to hide his newspaper aren't you? Hoping he'd forget the score last night and that pressing matters of Government would mean that he'd forget the bet."

Charlie looked agast.

"You know it's probably a federal offence to use the intercom to eavesdrop on the President."

Debbie laughed.

"If only you knew. Anyway you're too late..." As she finished, President Bartlett came swooping out of his office.

"Mrs Fiderer, I thought I heard you talking to someone out here, someone whose voice carried the heavy tone of defeat." The President looked at Charlie and smiled. "Hand it over."

Charlie sighed.

"Before I do that Mr President, I should point out that it's illegal to bet on sporting events in the District of Columbia."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'll pardon myself. 50 bucks please."

Charlie fumbled for his wallet.

"You do know that second touchdown wasn't - The running back went out of bounds."

"Write to the Big East Commisioner, I've got his address somewhere. In the mean time, Charles Xavier Young, ponder this. There are scientists at Stanford University right now, theoretical physicists no less, working on a paper attempting to prove the multiple universe theory. They say that there are innumerable alternate universes to this one, universes where the human race never evolved, where the Nazi's won World War II, where dinosaurs still rule the earth, however, in none of them does The University of South Dakota beat The West Virginia Mountaineers."

Debbie looked at Charlie.

"Seriously? I come from Sioux Falls and even I wouldn't take that bet."

Charlie handed over his money and the President snatched it away.

"Consider this a valuable life lesson my naive young assistant."

"Yes sir, Mr President. You do know my middle name isn't Xavier, right?"

"Well I'm sure I can decree it somewhere - I've got that power, right Debbie?"

Debbie smiled.

"I'm sure you have Sir. I'll dig out the paperwork."

The President stuffed Charlie's money in his jeans pocket.

"Now you can take your bitterly learned lesson and go home. It's Sunday, for crying out loud."

"Yes Sir, Mr President." Charlie was headed to the exit when Percy Fitzwallace burst through the door, with several high ranking military officers trailing behind him. The President looked at them all.

"Doesn't anyone ever go home in this place?" The look on Fitzwallace's face stopped him cold. "What is it?"

"Can we go into your office?, Sir?"

Bartlett showed them in and shut the door behind them, leaving Charlie and Debbie looking at each other, thoughts of bets and muscle cars and homes immediately replaced by growing disquiet.

**THE OVAL OFFICE**

"Mr President..." Fitzwallace began as they all sat down "...as you know, in 1980, President Reagan signed executive order 543, which authorised a CIA project called Operation Telegraph. Telegraph was aimed at giving us advanced early warning of a Soviet nuclear first strike by monitoring a range of internal Soviet 'triggers' that indicated an increased military posture. Since 1990, the CIA has continued to run Telegraph on a care and maintenance footing, and in the last few months we had started to pick up some alarming signals..."

"Come on Fitz" The President interrupted. "Relations with Russia are pretty cordial at the moment. I met Chigorin at the G8 summit three months ago. We had dinner. He's a modernist, he's a good guy."

"Mr President, Please." Fitzwallace cut the President off. "You'll know from your intelligence briefings that this autumn the Russian harvest failed. That's the third failure in five years. The WHO are predicting a technical famine in Russia this winter if they can't make up the shortfall on the open market. Kolarun has also been purging the army of high ranking generals. Last week, in a speech so low-key hardly anyone picked it up, he called for a reduction in military spending by 33% over the next five years. He's already made cuts equating to 15% since he came into office last year."

"Fitz, I know all this - I do read the national security briefing."

"I know sir. About two hours ago, The CIA listening station in Kharkiv in Ukraine started picking up hugely increased radio chatter from the Russian military. At around the same time, there were major power outages reported in Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk. Approximately an hour ago, a Southeastern airlines 747 scheduled to land at Moscow international airport was informed by air traffic control that the airport was closed due to 'technical difficulties'. They are now en route to Minsk in Belarus, however, we've since heard that the same thing has happened to an Air France Airbus and a Czech Airlines 767. In response, the NSA did a satellite pass over Moscow airport 35 minutes ago. There are troops on the ground and APCs and tanks on the runway. Russian State TV and Radio went off the air ten minutes ago."

"Fitz..." The President said slowly, absorbing the rush of information, none of which he liked. "What are you saying?"

"Mr President. I think, and the CIA agree, that we appear to be in the early stages of a military coup in Russia."

The President stared at the military officers sat in a semi-circle in front of him. Their faces were like stone and didn't reflect the shock he was sure was laid out across his own.

"How sure are you?" He directed the question at Fitz.

"It's confused at the moment. State are trying to get hold of the Russian foreign ministry without success so far and the Russian Embassy doesn't have any more idea of what's going on than we do. Associated Press and the BBC are reporting troops on the streets in several Russian cities. There's no domestic TV and Radio...If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, Mr President..."

The President rubbed his eyes. Abbey was still asleep in the Residence, and for once Zoe was home too. He wasn't planning on being in that morning, he just couldn't resist putting one over on Charlie. Man, things went downhill fast in this job.

"We need to find Chigorin..." As the President began, Leo burst through the door of his office.

"There's a coup in Russia and we found out about it FROM THE BBC?" Leo didn't sit, but stood simmering at each of the military men in turn. "Remind me again, what was the annual budget for the CIA last year?" He noticed that the head of the CIA wasn't there. "Where the hell is Rollie?"

"He's fishing with his son in Montana." Fitz replied. "Leo, no-one's as pissed that we missed this as I am, but we can kick people around when the dust settles. Right now I'm more worried about the ballistic missile submarines hanging around off Chesapeake Bay and especially in finding out which side of this thing they're on." He turned to the President with Leo still glowering at him. "Sir, we have no idea where President Chigorin is, or even if he's still alive. With respect, that isn't our first problem."

"What is?" Leo had finally sat down and had calmed down a little.

"We need to know what level of support this has in the Russian armed forces. That'll tell us if this is going to be over quickly, or whether it won't..." Fitz left the implication hanging in the air.

"How?" The President asked.

"We don't have contacts in the Russian Army, but the Chinese do, so we'll talk to our contacts in Beijing." He looked at Leo and the President in Turn. "At some point, we'll need to think about appropriate defensive measures."

Leo and the President exchanged a glance. They weren't ready to go there yet.

"Get working on your contacts in the Chinese military. We'll meet in the Situations Room in half an hour. Lets get our facts straight before we start issuing orders." The President stood up indicating an end to the meeting. "And get George Rollie back here now, I don't care if the Montana Air National Guard have to fly him back themselves, get him here."

Fitz nodded.

"Thank you Mr President."

When they'd left, Leo and Jed sat back down.

"I sat with him, Leo. At the G8. He told me things were tough, but why didn't we see this coming? He's a decent guy trying to drag his country into the 21st Century."

Leo sighed and rubbed his neck.

"I know one thing, I'm gonna have Rollie's head on a stick after this thing is over." He paused. "We should get the staff in. This is going to break in the next half an hour and we need lines prepared. I'll also get Hutchinson and Berryhill in too."

"Let's also start briefing Max Lobell, I don't want the chair of the House Intelligence Committee spouting off about the CIA on 60 minutes before this thing is done. As soon as Berryhill gets here, he's getting the Russian Ambassador in a room." The President looked at Leo. "How did we miss this Leo?"

"I don't know Mr President. We dropped the ball on this one."

"Then let's pick it up. Fast".

**THE WHITE HOUSE: OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF**

"IT'S A COUP, LEO!" Toby shouted. "IT'S NOT THE SCORES OF THE IRISH TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP! WHAT ARE WE PAYING THE CIA TO DO?"

Toby, Josh, C.J. and Will sat in Toby's office. None were taking the news particularly well, but as usual, Toby was giving voice to their concern. Loud, penetrating voice.

"Well, first of all..." Leo began "...as second generation Irish American, I'm pretty sure there is no Irish Table Tennis championship..." Toby threw his hands in the air in exaspiration, but Leo continued. "...and secondly, you're not saying anything to me I didn't say to The President 15 minutes ago. We'll deal with the CIA later. Right now we need to work on this. The BBC broke the news half an hour ago and CNN are now running it as the lead story."

"I've already had calls from CNN, Fox and the Post." C.J. chipped in.

"We'll need to start answering some of them. We'll take the line that there's still considerable confusion in Russia at the moment, we're working with NATO allies and others to establish what's going on, but that we don't have anything concrete yet, and we'll provide a more detailed statement when we do." C.J. nodded as she wrote down the bones of her first press statement on the situation.

"Toby, Lewis Berryhill is coming in to meet the Russian Ambassador. I want you in the room." Toby looked exaspirated.

"Why? I don't speak Russian. You don't need me in there."

"I'd rather you were in there holding Berryhill's hand than walking the corridors here with access to sharp objects when Rollie arrives." Leo looked his Communications head in the eye. Toby remained unconvinced, but shrugged his shoulders in resignation. The Chief of Staff turned to Will.

"Will, you need to work with Berryhill's staff and C.J. to produce the text that the President will give in a televised address to the Nation tonight. Pass a first draft by Toby before 11am." Will nodded silently and looked over at C.J. Finally, Leo looked over at Josh.

"I want you to familiarise yourself with the Continuity of Government Act. Talk to Lobell and make yourself an expert." Josh looked agast.

"Leo, isn't that way over the top?"

"Probably, but in case it isn't, I don't want to be trawling through the Library of Congress with Lionel Tribbey whilst someone at Cheyenne Mountain is giving the President the bad news."

Josh nodded his head.

"I had Redskins tickets for this afternoon." He added plaintively. "They were on the third row, centre field. They were playing The Ravens."

"If this thing goes south, at least you won't be sat in an E-8 over the Barents Sea directing in air strikes." Will added gloomily.

"No-one's going to be directing anything anywhere." Leo said. "We don't know what's going on yet, so how about we keep the glass half full for now?"

Toby snorted, and it generated the first set of smiles of the morning.

"Sometimes..." he began, "...it's like we never met before this moment, Leo."

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note - thanks for the reviews and the interest. It gets a little techy in this chapter, but I hope it holds your interest.

**THE STATE DEPARTMENT**

Vasily Gagarin was a tall, silver-haired man with a neatly cropped beard. He was the embodiment of the new Russia, a man who's communist party career had been swept away by a new frontier of free market opportunities, and his rise through the KGB, like President Chigorin's, had helped him when the time came. Now Gagarin was the CEO of the third biggest Natural Gas producer in the world, a man with a personal fortune greater than that of some African states. He was one of Chigorin's closest confidents, which was why he was trusted with this, the most important diplomatic job in Russia. Toby, and Lewis Berryhill had no doubt when he spoke, he spoke for Chigorin. Right now though, perched on the edge of a chair, inhaling coffee, he looked like he hadn't slept in 48 hours, and was 10 years older than his real age of 56.

"As I'm sure you're aware, Mr Ambassador," Berryhill began. "...the current situation in your country worries us a great deal. We recognise that things are still fluid in your country, but you must understand that the current situation is one which concerns the United States Government a great deal."

"With Respect, Mr Secretary, I couldn't give a damn about the concerns of the United States." The brusqueness in Gagarin's tone brought a genuine look of surprise to Berryhill's face. Gagarin continued after closing his eyes, composing himself for a second and taking another healthy swig of coffee. "I'm sorry, it's been a very trying few hours. To answer your question, I do not know. I can't contact the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, and several of my contacts in the FSB are also proving ...elusive."

"I appreciate this must be extremely difficult, Mr Ambassador, but we place a great deal of store in our continued good relations with your country, and President Chigorin is well liked and appreciated by the United States government. We are therefore concerned if that relationship is placed in jeopardy, especially if we are faced by a military government, the impacts on US-Russian relations may be put back 20 years. We want to help prevent that."

Gagarin studied their faces for a second, as if to see whether Berryhill's words were sincere or a platitude aimed at gathering more information. He was obviously satisfied that the Secretary of State spoke for The President, because his demeanour changed, and he physically relaxed.

"Of course. May I have more coffee please? It is so much better than the sludge we get in the Embassy." Toby wordlessly got up and filled the Ambassador's cup, as he continued. "I have managed to contact one former colleague from the days of the Soviet Union. He is now a senior official in the state intelligence body, the FSB." He took the refilled cup from Toby and swallowed a good proportion of the liquid. "He was somewhat peturbed that this situation had arisen without forewarning even within the FSB. He was not clear how far the treachery extended into the armed forces, but it would appear that the situation is local, rather than nationwide. It would appear that regional commanders in the North and West are responsible for this uprising, and there are still loyal commanders in the south and east who are presently mobilising to defend the democratic Government."

"Is the situation confined to the Army?" It was Toby, and Berryhill shot him a glance, as he and Toby had agreed, prior to the meeting that only Berryhill would ask questions, even legitimate ones like this.

"My contact believed that it was not. It would appear that this insurrection is shared across all our armed forces in the affected areas."

"Is Chigorin still alive?"

Gagarin looked down at his mug, and both Berryhill and Toby were conscious they were asking about the fate of a friend, not just a politician.

"I don't know. Even if he is, it is clear that he is not in control of Russia, or at least a significant portion of it."

"What about the FSB?"

Gagarin perked up a little at the mention of his former employers.

"They are loyal. They are working with loyal elements of our armed forces to wrest control of the country back from these bastards!" He looked at his watch. "Lewis, Since I don't know who in my government I should be relaying the concerns of the President to, I'd appreciate it if I could return to the Embassy. I have calls I need to make."

"Of course Vasily. " The two men stood and shook hands. "Let's stay in touch. Good luck."

"And I would in turn appreciate anything your CIA can find out about this situation."

After Gagarin had left, Toby and Lewis sat and finished their coffee.

"He doesn't know much more than we do, and he's the fourth most powerful man in the country." Berryhill mused aloud.

"At least we know now that there are some loyal elements of the Russian Armed forces." Toby stared at the ceiling as he spoke. "That's got to count for something, right?"

Berryhill was silent for a short time, and looked at his feet when he eventually spoke.

"We've got to know which of their military districts are in uprising, it gives us an idea of how this thing will play out. I know you carry some weight with The President, he needs to make sure that Rollie and the CIA share whatever they can with Gagarin. He's been a good friend to us, and I'd like to help him get his country back."

Berryhill picked the phone up to talk to The President, as Toby started to make his way back to The White House.

**THE WHITE HOUSE**

C.J. was on the phone to one of the regular White House staffers who covered politics for CNN and the carefully planned script that she and Leo had agreed 20 minutes earlier was already unravelling.

"No John..." she announced rubbing her eyes as she slumped over her desk "...We don't know the fate of President Chigorin, so I doubt that he's sat in the Hilton in Georgetown, being babysat by the CIA. No, we can't confirm he's in India either, because, and note I'm repeating myself from literally 5 seconds ago, we don't know the fate of President Chigorin. Yes, The Secretary of State is speaking with the Russian Ambassador and no, I don't know the content of the discussion given that it's being had right now in a different building. Well, John, that's why it's called a press conference. Fine. Goodbye!" She slammed the phone down and looked up. Carol was stood in the doorway. "When did you get here?"

"Five minutes ago."

"How did you know to come in?"

"Leo has a big Batlight that he shines over the City when he needs the Staff in. It's pretty cool. He'd make a great Commissioner Gordon, don't you think?"

"Carol..." CJ began.

"I saw the headlines on CNN and figured you needed help." She put a pile of post-it's in front of CJ. These are the press people who've rung since I've been here - I haven't started on the messages yet. I told them we didn't have anything we could say at present until we knew more, and that was likely to be several hours, but you'll need to ring them back eventually."

"Carol," C.J. sighed, gratitude embedded in her voice. "If it wasn't wildly inappropriate, I'd kiss you right now. On the mouth. " Carol smiled and went back to her office. "ON THE MOUTH, CAROL - REMEMBER THAT!" CJ shouted after her, just as Josh stuck his head round the door.

"I take it that wasn't aimed at me."

"Nope, Carol."

"OK." Josh came in and sat down without being invited. C.J. sat back in her chair.

"Is there something you need?"

"I need a Lawyer."

C.J. smirked slightly.

"Aren't you a lawyer?"

"Yeah," Josh replied, running his hands through his hair. "I need a good one."

"Well, it's half seven on a sunday morning, so good luck with that. I thought Lobell was coming in."

"He's at Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving week. We've got a teleconference in an hour." Josh absently tapped Gail's bowl, but it had no discernable impression on C.J.'s pet goldfish. "Seriously, there isn't anyone from the White House Counsel's office in. I'm this close to ringing Sam."

"It's 3am in Los Angeles, Josh, I doubt he'd thank you."

"I guess not. It's just that this thing is incomprehensible - it's a list of people and a list of places but no real or clear identification of what needs to happen to put it all into place. It's like a bad mystery novel."

"I'd like to help you out" C.J. began, "but I've got a number of major news outlets to, you know, placate..."

Josh sighed and left and C.J. reluctantly picked up the phone again.

By the time Josh had reached his office, Donna was hanging her coat up.

"Nice to see you've finally arrived." He muttered as he walked past. "You know Carol has been in for hours."

"Hours?" Donna repeated. "I doubt that."

"It's true. She's so efficient, C.J. wants to make out with her. Because of your tardiness, you'll never know the gentle touch of my hand." Josh walked into his office and sat down heavily in his chair.

"Oh no..." Donna deadpanned. "...how will my life ever have meaning?" She walked into Josh's office. "I didn't have to come in you know. I could still be in bed. How bad is it?"

"It's looking pretty bad, but it's too early to say for sure. Leo's asked me to dust off the Continuity of Government plans, so I need to find out where all the Cabinet members are, except Berryhill, who Toby's with at State, and Hutchinson, who's on his way in. Also, find out where The Speaker is at the moment and the President _pro tempore_ of the Senate."

"OK."

Josh opened his file again and began to read.

**THE SITUATIONS ROOM**

President Bartlet, Leo and Secretary of Defence Miles Hutchinson were sat in the bunker beneath the White House, listening, along side the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Lewis Berryhill reporting on his conversation with Ambassador Gagarin. Once he had finished, The President thanked him and asked him to keep trying to contact the Russian Foreign Ministry. After terminating the call, Leo turned to Fitz.

"If Gagarin is right about forces from the North and West being the primary antagonists here, what does that mean?"

"There are 8 military districts in Russia and each operate with a high degree of autonomy." Fitz began. "Let's assume, for a second, that the three rebellious districts are Northern, Urals and Volga, then that leaves Moscow, Northern Caucaus, Siberia, Trans-Baikal and Far East districts as loyal to Chigarin. That might not be the case, but it fits roughly with what Gagarin suggested. Moscow is surrounded on three sides by antagonistic regions. It's only friendly border is to the South with the Northern Caucaus, however that contains Chechnya and Dagestan, as well as the border with Georgia. They're pretty busy down there right now. The forces in the far east are amongst the best and most advanced units in the Russian Armed Forces, but they're 3000 miles away and moving that many troops, heavy artillery and tanks in Winter is likely to be almost impossible within the timeframes we're looking at. They'd also have to travel through the Volga and Ural regions, both of which are in uprising, so that's a likely flashpoint. Lastly, and this is the kicker, the Northern region includes the Kola Peninsula, which is the most militarised part of Russia - the Northern Fleet is based there, which is where their ballistic missile submarines in the Atlantic are based, there are four major air bases and three ICBM bases. The Volga region contains two of the three largest Russian bomber bases."

"Break that down for me Fitz" The President asked, trying to make sense of the flow of information. "What does all that actually mean?"

"I believe what Fitz is saying Mr President," Hutchinson jumped in "...is that the combination of forces deployed by each side, their relative locations, the logistical problems they'll face during a Russian winter, means that this could drag on for months, and that the rebel districts carry most of the aces at this point." Fitz nodded in agreement.

"I should add, Mr President, that this is all speculation at the moment. Until we get better intel, we're guessing here." Fitz added.

"OK, " Leo began. "The first thing we need to do is to get better intelligence. Mark, " He turned to the Deputy Director of the CIA. "...what can we do to improve our intelligence?"

"We've been re-locating KH11 and Lacrosse Satellites across Russia all morning - the NRO will be getting updated information in the next 15 minutes. We're reaching out to all our other assets in Russia, but as you can imagine, things are chaotic at the moment. We may get human intel later in the day if and when communication lines clear up."

"What about realtime?" Leo aimed that question at Fitzwallace.

"We're deploying two joint stars battlefield surrveilance aircraft in-theatre - one based in Poland, one in Uzbekistan. We've also got four E-3 Sentries in-bound, based in the same locations. They won't be in position until this evening, but they'll give us greatly enhanced electronic intelligence. We'll supplement these with U-2S and Global Hawk overflights where we think these are safe to undertake. This time tomorrow we'll be better equipped." He shared a look with the other Joint Chiefs before continuing. "Mr President, there are one or two other things that we think it would be prudent to consider now, in terms of our own security."

The President and Leo shared a look but if Fitz was expecting to be interrupted, it didn't happen, so he continued.

"General Dekker has already ordered one of our E-4's to fly from Offut Air Force Base to Andrews, Sir. We will also be deploying a second E-4 to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware later today. Once Leo has provided an updated Continuity of Government plan, we'll deploy a third E-4 to the location of the highest ranking official on the list of continuity not in the Washington DC area."

"Why Dover?" Leo asked.

"It's got a long enough runway to handle the E-4, but it's far enough from Washington not to be affected if Andrews is hit." Fitz replied. The President looked at the surface of the table.

"Hit by what?" The President asked slowly.

"A nuclear weapon, Mr President.

"You've got to be kidding, Fitz."

"No sir, Mr President. Until we know the status of the Russian nuclear deterrent, I'd prefer to be prudent sir. That's why I'd also like you to move our strategic nuclear assets from _Fade Out_ to _Double take_."

"Translation?" Leo asked, seeing that the President was too dumbfounded for words.

"DEF CON 5 to DEF CON 4. Technically I can do it, however, given the circumstances, I'd rather have that order come from you, Sir. We're not talking about putting bombers in the air, Mr President. Raising our alert status from _Fade Out_ to _Double Take_ allows us to cancel some leave, move some assets about, generally up our game. It doesn't allocate targets. It's precautionary."

"And will Chigorin think that, or The Chinese?" Leo asked, knowing it would be Bartlet's next question.

"Leo, they won't ever know."

"It'll get out." Bartlet sighed. " A wife of a tanker pilot who's just had his camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park cut short will moan to a neighbour, who tell her book club and before you know it it's in the Grand Forks gazette-news that we're at war with Russia. These things always get out." He thought for a second. "No, Fitz. Not yet. Maintain existing alert levels. When will we get our next set of Intelligence reports?"

"Around 10am Mr President."

"Then we'll re-conviene then".

With that, Bartlet and Leo stood up and left.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note** - Thanks for the interest and for the reviews. It's greatly appreciated. This will be the last chapter before the weekend - gotta find the time to work, sleep and write!

**OUTSIDE THE SITUATIONS ROOM**

"What the Hell was that?"

Bartlet paced the corridor outside the situations room as Leo leaned against the wall and waited for the inevitable.

"We don't know what the Hell's going on. It's been two hours, Leo - TWO HOURS, and they want me to ring the goddamn bell on Armageddon."

"No they don't, Sir. They don't know what's going on and their first reaction is to pull the sword from its scabbard and wave it around."

"Yeah, well that's not happening." Jed stopped pacing and lit a cigarette. "Is this bullshit Leo? Was I wrong to countermand Fitz raising the Alert Level?"

Leo rested his head against the wall. It was just after nine in the morning and he already felt shattered.

"No, it's not bullshit, Mr President. And yes, you were right to countermand the order. We can jump alert statuses if things start heading south, and Def Con 4 isn't much more than a noisy way to issue general orders." He eased himself away from the wall. "They're rattled, Mr President. They're used to having every piece of intelligence it's possible to have before they make a decision. They're having to use CNN this morning."

"I know one thing..." The President began, blowing smoke into the air. "...we need to keep our heads. If we don't, then we'll get carried along with this thing."

"It'll be fine, Mr President. In an hour they'll have their intelligence and it'll calm them down." Leo looked at his watch. "We're back in there in 55 minutes, you might wanna head back to the Residence and tell Abby that her plans for Sunday are heading down the tubes."

"I'll pay you to do it. I'm President, I'm pretty rich by all accounts."

Leo laughed.

"Mr President, there's not enough money in the world." They started to walk back towards the lift. "Besides, I'm meeting with the Ritz Brothers tribute act we employ as your senior staff in the next ten minutes, so you'd have to do that."

"Fair enough". Bartlet replied, without much mirth.

**THE WHITE HOUSE BULLPEN **

Toby arrived back from State and walked straight into Will's office and sat down.

"How was State?" Will asked.

"A waste of time. Berryhill didn't need me there and the Russian Ambassador knew less than we do." Toby rubbed his eyes and laid down on Will's sofa.

"Well, feel free to make yourself at home."

Toby ignored him.

"What have you got so far?"

Will lobbed his pen on the desk.

"After Good Evening? Not a lot. lots of stuff like 'difficult to read what is an extremely fluid situation in Russia', 'The leaders of this insurrection must understand that United States stands behind the democratically elected government.' yadda-yadda-yadda."

"It's not 'I have a dream' is it?"

"It's difficult to write a speech for a situation you know nothing about."

Toby laughed.

"I've been doing that every other day since we got here. This speech isn't PBS or 60 minutes. It's soothing noise for a population watching Russian tanks shooting at each other and wondering what they're going to start firing next." Toby sat up. "Don't use the word Fluid, it makes it sound like we don't know what's happening."

It was Will's turn to snort in derision.

"And you do? You might want to head down to the Situations Room and ask for a raise."

"How could you have written speeches so long and be such an idiot? We don't say we don't know, we say we know more than we did an hour ago." Will looked at Toby with a raised eyebrow, but Toby shrugged it off. "It's not 1962, we don't want people watching it from under a table." Toby walked over to Will and stood over his shoulder. "Start it again."

Will screwed his effort into a ball and threw it into the bin.

"I guess we can agree on 'Good Evening?'"

**THE WHITE HOUSE - OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF**

Donna walked into Josh's office and sat down on a chair on the other side of his desk.

"Did you know that Congress had a secret alternate bunker facility at Greenbrier, West Virginia?" Josh looked up from the file. "I played golf there once..."

"It's not really a secret if you run your mouth off about it, is it?"

"No, you might wanna forget all that stuff I just said." Josh snapped the file shut. "What do we have?"

Donna looked at the pad in her lap.

"OK, no Vice President" She looked up at Josh. "You guys might wanna do something about that"

"We're working on it. Who's next?"

"Speaker of the House is at his home in Georgetown."

"The Speaker doesn't have a house, Donna," Josh grunted. "When he not sucking blood, he's hanging upside down from a tree somewhere."

"Well, his tree's in Georgetown. President _Pro Tempore_ is in Bethesda Naval Hospital..."

"He's also 90 and deaf. Who's next?"

"Secretary of State Berryhill is at the State Department and Secretary of Defense Hutchinson..."

"...Is downstairs with The President in the Situations Room. " Josh rubbed his eyes. "We're really getting into the Free Agents now aren't we. Who's next?"

"Secretary of the Interior is touring Wilderness reserves in Norway with the House subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife, which leaves the Secretary of Agriculture. He's at a conference in Pine Bluff, Arkansas."

Josh stood up.

"Get someone to type all that up and bring it to me."

"Where are you going?"

"To see Leo."

**THE OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY**

Josh knocked on the doorframe and CJ beckoned him in. She was still on the phone.

"Well gee, Rick, I'm not the one who's responsible for our satellite flights, but I'll be sure and tell the Director of the National Reconnaisance Office that he should deploy his assets according to the advice of the deputy White House staffer for the Philadelphia Courier." She put the phone down without waiting for a response.

"I can see why Danny got you a fish, you're sexy when you're feisty."

"I swear to God Josh, if you're just hanging around here because you don't want to do that Continuity of Government thing, I'll beat your ass with this... " She looked around her desk. "...with this stapler."

"Didn't think that one through before you started, did ya C.J.?"

"Not so much. What do you want?"

"We need to see Leo. It's time."

Toby and Will walked in as Josh was speaking. Toby looked between Josh and C.J., who was still wielding the stapler.

"You're missing some paper, there C.J." he said as he sat down on C.J.'s sofa.

"I was asserting my power."

"With office stationary?" Will asked.

"Believe it, Mister" C.J. stood up. "With just a paper clip, I could make you cry like a little girl. How's the Speech?"

"Needs work" Will said, and Toby grunted.

"Yeah. What about you."

CJ sighed.

"I'm expecting a briefing from DoD in twenty minutes, then I'm going to do a press conference. We won't be able to hold off saying nothing much longer."

Donna knocked on the doorframe and handed a piece of paper to Josh.

"What's that?" Toby asked. "If it's a half-decent Presidential Address, I'll give you 20 bucks for it."

"I'm right here, in the room" complained Will.

"It's the current Presidential line of succession. Wanna know the lucky winner?" All three nodded. "Roger Tribbey at Agriculture. He's in Pine Bluff Arkansas."

Toby shrugged.

"Could've been worse."

"Yeah, " agreed Josh. "Interior is in Norway, so we caught a break with that one. You ready?"

"Not really." admitted Toby, who stood up anyway, and the four of them left for Leo's office.

**OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF**

"Who's first?" Leo looked over his glasses at C.J., Toby, Will and Josh, who were stood around his desk like students waiting for punishment.

"I've stalled the media, " C.J. began, "...but they won't be placated for long. We're going to need to say something substantive soon, otherwise we'll end up behind this thing and we'll never catch up."

"Have you got a briefing from Department of Defense set up yet?" Leo didn't look up from the papers on his desk.

"15 minutes. I'm thinking about a Press Conference at midday."

"Fine.." agreed Leo. "Just keep it light and non-commital. What about the Speech?"

"We're working on it." Toby spoke for him an Will. "I think it's fair to say it still needs some polish."

"How much?"

"A lot" admitted Toby.

"I'm working in the dark, Leo" Will complained. "And it sounds like it."

Leo took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

"Go to the DoD briefing with C.J. We'll be asking for air time on the Networks at 8pm eastern, so The President will want to see a first draft by 2. Make sure you have one by then. We don't want to cut into the Steelers Cowboys game whilst you put a final polish on it if we ever want to see a Democrat in the White House again." Toby and Will both nodded. Leo turned to Josh. "Where are we with the Continuity of Government?"

"I've got a telephone conference booked with Lobell at 10, so we'll go through the process then, but the bottom line is that the most senior Presidential Alternate not in Washington but reachable is Roger Tribbey at Agriculture. He's in Arkansas."

Leo replaced his glasses and reached for his coffee mug.

"Could've been a lot worse. OK. We'll meet back here at 11am. I should have more information by them." Leo brought the meeting to a close and they all started to file out. "Josh?" he called after his deputy. "You got a minute? Close the door."

Josh walked back into Leo's office, closing the door behind him.

"What's up?"

"The Joint Chiefs are twitchy. They're sending an E-4B down to Little Rock as soon as I tell them that Tribbey's the alternate. I want you on that plane." Josh stared at Leo.

"What?"

"It'll be a walk in the park. The E-4 will pick you up in Andrews and ride with it down to Arkansas. Your job will be to stop the Military from freaking Tribbey out. This thing will blow over in a few days and you fly back." Leo looked up from his papers. "Piece of cake."

"Leo" Josh began. "I already told you, the year after the election, that I wasn't going to be part of the federal relocation programme. No bunkers, no planes...I'll take my chances in the White House food court."

"No."

Josh looked at Toby in something close to shock.

"What?"

"I said no, Josh." Leo took his glasses off and put them on the desk. "That speech about women was cute at the time, but then we weren't looking at civil war in a country with 4000 nuclear weapons."

"I wasn't kidding Leo. "

"Neither am I. From the second that E-4B lands in Little Rock, Roger Tribbey is the potential President of the United States. He needs a Chief of Staff, and that's you. If you won't do it, then I'll have your resignation on my desk in half an hour."

Josh stared in disbelief at Leo, who's stony face betrayed no emotion.

"You're serious."

"I need someone on that E-4B who I know is going to be strong enough to make the difficult choice, but if you can't do it, I'll ask C.J." Leo softened his voice. "If it helps, you can take Donna. Call her a special adviser to the White House Chief of Staff."

"Then I guess I don't have much of a choice." Josh was angry, but kept his temper in check. "When I get back though, we're going to have a conversation."

"Fair enough." Leo replied, going back to his documents. "When you get back."

**OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF**

"DONNA!" Josh shouted when he arrived back at his office.

"I'm right here, Josh." She stuck her head around the doorframe. "It's only me, there's no need to shout!"

"Go home, pack a bag. We're going to Pine Bluff."

"What?"

"You're now a Special Adviser to the White House Chief of Staff and we're about to be Roger Tribbey's political staff - go home and pack, the E-4 will be at Andrews in 3 hours and we need to be on it.

Donna looked astonished.

"Do I get a raise? I only ask because, you know, I wanna buy stuff."

"This is the Federal Government, Donna. Of course you don't get a raise."

With that she was gone, and Josh sat at his desk, mulling the conversation with Leo over in his mind, disturbed, but not really knowing why.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note - thanks for the reviews and comments**.**

**WHITE HOUSE SITUATIONS ROOM**

Leo and Bartlet walked in and The President beckoned the Joint Chiefs of Staff to sit even as they were in the process of rising from their chairs.

"Where are we with the intelligence?"

Fitz continued to stand.

"The National Reconnaisance Agency has had Satellites over Russia for the last hour and we're starting to get a picture but it's confused. We've got low-level fighting in Perm and Samara. They're in the Volga Military District, so that might mean that the rebellion isn't as organised as Gagarin thinks. That's the good news. The bad news is that we've found evidence of mobilisation in other parts of the Volga and Urals Military District consistent with an attempt to take Moscow. There's some mobilisation in the Far East, but it's slow and there's evidence that the major rail links west have been cut, so it'll take longer for forces loyal to Chigarin to relieve Moscow."

"So we're looking at a prolonged campaign?" Leo asked.

"Leo, it's too early to say. The KH11 overflight of the Volga basin showed the equivalent of 11 Motor Rifle divisions, 8 tank divisions, three divisions of mobile artillery and two Divisions of combat engineers all forming up into combat formation. A second KH11 overflight over the City of Perm showed 7 more motor rifle divisions, 4 tank divisions and a division each of artillery and combat engineers. Put that together, and that's enough to to take Moscow, no matter how well its defended." Fitz looked at a Naval ensign at the far end of the room. "First slide please, James." A picture that The President couldn't interpret appeared on the big screen.

"Leo, you used to fly Thunderchiefs for a living. What does that look like to you?"

Leo put his glasses on and stared at the screen.

"Looks like revetted defences that have had hell bombed out of them."

Fitz smiled.

"Good eyes. These are trench revetments on the outskirts of Moscow. We believe that they were prepared by forces loyal to Chigarin. They were thrown up in a hurry. As you can see, they've suffered extensive damage. This.." a highlighted part of the picture appeared. "...is the wreckage of an Su-25 Frogfoot, a Russian ground attack aircraft roughly equivalent to our A-10 warthog. There's a second frogfoot wreck here. " The Picture changed to two more wrecked frogfoots. "These aircraft were photographed 20 miles east of Moscow. We believe that these were shot down by MiG 31s from the 639th fighter wing at Khotilivo Air Force Base, which suggests that the Russian Air Force is as fractured as their army."

"OK, Fitz" The President began. "What does all this mean?"

"Mr President, the rebellious forces have significant support. The limited mobilisation and in-fighting of forces in rebellious regions suggests that the forces in Moscow have a chance of holding out through Winter, but that chance reduces if the rebellious forces enjoy significant air support, which it appears they do. The Far Eastern Districts appear to be mobilising in support of Moscow, but there are significant obstacles in the way of them moving west." The picture changed again. "And there's this."

"What am I looking at?"

"This is St Petersburg, and these are anti aircraft positions, artillery positions and two tank divisions. I'd lay money this is where the bad guys are."

"Fitz," The President repeated. "What happens next?"

"If I was laying odds, Sir, right now, my money would be on the Rebels. They're organised, they've made relief from the east difficult, and they have sufficient forces to do the job."

Leo leaned back in his chair.

"Have we heard anything about Chigarin?"

"Not yet" Mark Tamm, the Deputy CIA chief replied. "We're trying everything we can, but it's pretty chaotic over there at the moment."

"Anything from the Rebels?"

"No sir."

"Mr President," Fitz interrupted "Things are starting to clear up from an intelligence point of view just a little. It looks like Gagarin was right about which Military Districts are Loyal and which aren't. Within the next 2 days, Moscow will be under siege. If the Rebels have air support, it will fall, probably within weeks. If that happens, it'll all be over before Christmas. Let's assume that Chigarin is still alive. The question is, Sir. Do you want to intervene?"

Leo and Bartlet looked at Fitz in disbelief. When Leo spoke, it was slowly and carefully.

"What are you suggesting, Admiral?"

"Leo, this thing hangs on whether Moscow can hold out until winter. If they can do that, there's a good chance that the reinforcements from the Eastern Districts can relieve the City. If they are successful, I doubt that the northern district will hold on without support. The whole thing revolves around whether the rebel districts can muster enough air support to take the city, so they can then meet loyalist forces to the east of Moscow on their own terms. We can't do much about the ground war, Sir, but we can even up the odds by removing air power from the equation."

"Fitz, do you have something in mind?" The President asked.

"We're working on something Mr President, we'll be ready to brief you later this afternoon. The short version, however, is a series of conventional air strikes on Rebel air bases, taking out as much of the Rebel air power as we can."

The President rubbed his eyes.

"Four hours ago, we didn't even know this was happening, and in the mean time the two sides have had time to build defenses and bomb the hell out of them, and you're suggesting that we get involved?"

"It's just an option, Mr President. If you choose to intervene, we want to have viable options available for you."

"OK." Leo could see that The President was unhappy that he'd been blindsided, and his memory went back to the conversation they'd had earlier, outside the situations room. He felt it was important to move the conversation on. "We'll hear the proposals later this afternoon. Fitz, did you get the Continuity of Government details from Josh?"

"We did. The alternate E-4B will be touching down at Andrews in two hours to pick up Josh, and should arrive in Little Rock by 3pm. We'll be designating it 'Daywatch', and it'll stay in Little Rock until it's no longer necessary."

"Fine. What about the Russian nuclear assets."

"We've flown several satellite overflights of Russian ICBM and long-range aviation bases. There's no indication of any increased activity or change in alert status."

"Well, "Began The President. "That's some good news at least."

"Yes Sir." Fitz turned to Leo. "The Deputy Director of the CIA expects Director Rollie to be here by 1pm Leo. We'll have our next round of Satellite data by then."

"Very well. We'll meet again at 1pm."

"One more thing, Gentlemen" Bartlet started, voice steady but firm and leaving everyone in the room in no doubt that his words weren't to be ignored. "I don't like surprises. I welcome your initiative, but if you're going to start looking at ways to shoehorn American troops into this thing, I'd appreciate a head's up before the C-5s are in the air. Understood?"

**BRIEFING ROOM 3, THE WEST WING**

"I can't take this seriously" whispered Toby to C.J. "I pay a kid older than this to mow my lawn"

It was true. The Department of Defense official briefing them was incredibly young, and very earnest. All three of them had an air of incredulity as they watched the presentation.

"The current situation in Russia is extremely confused, and will take some time to straighten out. You're likely to be asked about our intelligence assets in the area. The primary assets in place at the moment are our KH11 surveillance satellites, of which we currently have eight. We also have four Lacrosse Satellites in lower orbit. We have other assets we're using.."

"U2's and Global Hawk spyplanes?" Will blurted out.

"You're such an air force nerd, 2nd Lieutenant Will" C.J. snorted.

"That's classified I'm afraid." The DoD official said.

"O.K." Began Toby, tiring of the whole exercise. "I can accept a briefing from someone not yet old enough to see an X rated movie, but I was expecting to hear something that would help me write a speech."

"Us" corrected Will.

"Whatever." continued Toby. "If this briefing is going to be the word classified repeated until I fall asleep, I might as well go watch the Discovery Channel."

"What my colleague meant to say" began C.J. looking at the now flustered DoD official, "If he wasn't such a colossal Ass, is that we have an Air Force General in the briefing room to answer these questions. We're going to get asked about who's winning, will it affect the price of my gas, is this going to mean I have to re-learn duck and cover. Do you understand?"

The DoD official looked confused and looked at each of them in turn, not really sure what to do.

"I'm not sure how you want to do this?"

"How about we ask you questions that C.J. is likely to get, and you answer them." Will suggested.

"OK".

"Alright. I'll start." Will began. "Who's winning?"

"Far too early to say, both sides are largely deploying troops at the moment, engagements have been minor so far."

"Is there a danger of this spreading beyond their borders" Asked Toby.

"Yes."

Toby looked shocked. "Really?"

"It's a war, Mr Zeigler. Russia has disputed borders with China, The Ukraine, half the Central Republics. They've got 4000 nuclear weapons, 6000 combat aircraft, Naval battle groups in the Atlantic and the Pacific. They've got military personnel in Venezuela, Vietnam, Tanzania, Cuba, Syria and Belarus. Of course it could spill beyond their borders."

"You might wanna edit that at the press conference, C.J." Toby mumbled.

"You think?" C.J. Responded. "Is there a danger that nuclear weapons have been compromised?"

"There's a danger, yes."

"You're just a little ray of sunshine aren't you?" Will interjected.

"What I'd add," the DoD official interjected "...is that there's no evidence of that whatsoever at the moment."

"Is the United States working on a plan should we need to intervene" Leo posed the question in a quiet calm voice that made C.J. and Will instantly nervous.

"I'm sorry, that's classified."

"We are, aren't we?" Toby exclaimed. "Jesus!"

"I'm sorry Sir, I'm not at liberty to confirm or deny on-going operational strategy."

"I think you just did." Will said, quietly. The DoD official blushed deeply.

"I think it's for the best if I take you through some slides which help explain where the two sides have initiated deployments..." he began, turning back to the screen, but it was too late. C.J., Toby and Will were gone, considering the implications of what they had discovered, and alarmed that they hadn't discovered it from Leo.

**THE OVAL OFFICE **

The President sat at his desk, a pile of papers spread out in front of him. He looked at his watch, it was just after half eleven in the morning. He'd been up six hours already, on a day that was supposed to be as close to a day off as it was possible for him to have. That had turned out well. Debbie walked through the door.

"This was just sent through from the Department of Defence. Nancy McNally is back at Ronald Reagan, she's on her way in."

"Good." The President looked at the file that Debbie had handed to him. More satellite photographs he couldn't interpret. "Have her come straight in when she gets here." He tossed the photographs on the desk on top of all the other papers he didn't really understand. "I was going to have a quiet day today, Debbie. Early morning rag on Charlie, read the papers, have dinner with the Girls, watch some football..."

"Yes Mr President, I imagine when it goes south in your job, it goes south fast."

"Debbie, you have no idea. Is Charlie still about?"

"He's at his desk, Sir."

"Send him in will you?"

Bartlet thought about going back to the papers on his desk, but decided that without Nancy, Leo or Fitz, it was a pretty futile exercise. Instead, he took a sip of his coffee and got out of his chair and walked the room to ease his aching back. He was still pacing as Charlie walked in.

"You wanted to see me Mr President.?"

"Ahh Charles, Charlie Charles-Charles. The C-Man."

"Are you feeling alright Sir?"

"Indeed Charlie. Have you had lunch yet?"

"No Sir, as it's only half past eleven, and you took my 50 bucks."

"Then you must eat with us. Elizabeth and Zoe are here, they'd both love to see you. We're having Beef, and not just any beef, but topside sirloin from one of the dexter cattle on John's farm. Dexter beef is the Cadillac of beef, Charlie, the fat is evenly marbled through the meat, making it tender and moist..."

"I'd be delighted Sir. Will Jean-Paul be there?"

"No, he's flounced his way back to France for the week."

Charlie smiled at Bartlet's less-than-complimentary view of Zoe's new boyfriend.

"OK then. What time are we eating Sir?"

Bartlet smiled in a way that instantly deflated Charlie's expectations of a free lunch..

"Ah, now there's the rub. We were supposed to eat at 1, but I've got a National Security Briefing then, so I need you to skip across to the Residence and let my wife know I'll be half an hour late..."

"You want me to tell Mrs Bartlet you're going to be late for lunch?"

"Yes"

"A lunch with your daughters, who, as you regularly point out, you rarely see enough of?"

"That's about the size of it,"

"Sir, and I say this with all due respect, there's no chance."

"Fine" sighed the President, "I guess if you need a man's job doing..."

"You're going to ask Debbie to do it aren't you?".

"That's the plan"

Charlie adopted the hang-dog look which he was finding easier and easier to master.

"I've never been prouder to serve at your pleasure, sir."

"Damn right" Bartlet replied. "Dinner at half one – don't forget."

"No Sir, will that be all?"

"For now."

"Thank you Mr President"

As Charlie was leaving, Leo came through the door.

"You got a minute?"

"Sure," The President replied, "Just a second. Charlie?"

Charlie stuck his head round the door.

"Mr President.?"

"Buck-Kaaaaw!" The noise made Leo jump.

Charlie rolled his eyes and disappeared again.

"What was that?" Leo asked, amused and confused.

"Charlie won't tell Abby I'm going to be late for Lunch." Bartlet walked round the back of his desk and sat down. "So I made the chicken noise."

"That's what that was" Leo began sarcastically. "I did wonder."

"Steady Mr Sarcastic, or I'll have you do it."

"Why would you do that? We're friends. Get the 82nd Airborne to do it, they work for you."

The President looked at the pile of papers on his desk.

"They keep sending me this stuff Leo, and I don't know what I'm looking at half the time." He sighed. "What do you need?"

Leo sat down opposite Bartlet and stretched his arms out, popping his shoulders to ease the stress out of them.

"McNally's on the way. I thought I'd send Kate Harper down to Arkansas with Josh. She's in Huntsville visiting her brother anyway, and Josh is going to need a friendly face down there."

"How was he?" Bartlet asked earnestly.

"Pretty pissed, but he's going. I'll let him chew me out when he gets back. I told him he could take Donna. She'll keep him straight."

"Roger Tribbey caught the short straw I noticed." Bartlet was looking at a copy of Josh's Continuity of Government memo. "We lucked out there."

Leo laughed.

"Yeah. Thank the House Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife for that. Toby and Will are going to drop a first draft of the address for tonight on your desk at 2pm. We've got network time at 8."

"OK, I'll look at it when I get back from lunch. Tell them I don't want it any later – if we delay the Steelers-Cowboys game, the next Democrat up for my job will finish behind the Progressive Party."

"Yeah," replied Leo, "I'm on it." He looked up at Bartlet. "You know what? Screw the National Security briefing. I'll go – it'll be the same stuff we heard an hour ago anyway. If anything new comes up, I can come find you. Go have lunch with the girls."

"Bless your Irish heart, Leo." The President stood up. "I dread to ask, but aside from the obvious, is there anything else happening today we need to know about?"

Leo leaned back in his chair.

"Bits and pieces, but nothing major. Harry Miller of the Wyoming 3rd is interviewed in the Post, threatening to add a rider to the Federal Mining Rehabilitation Bill requiring mine operators generating over $250 million annual profit to donate 1% of their gross to support the US National Park service."

"Hiking Harry..." The President laughed. "I like his moxie, but it'll never get past first reading."

"Shame. Goodwin's been leaving messages every hour since yesterday afternoon. Wants you to go up to Billings and campaign for the Democrat running in the Montana 6th."

"Let me guess," Bartlet started, mimicking the southern lilt of Barry Goodwin, Chairman of the Democratic Party congress. "I think this one has a real chance, Leo. Time to cash in on that re-election goodwill."

"That's about the size of it, yeah." Leo laughed.

"It won't matter" Bartlet said between sips of coffee. "He'll get creamed in the grand tradition of democrats getting creamed in Montana congressional elections, Lewis and Clark passed through." He thought about it for a second. "What the hell, I don't have to worry about getting re-elected. Ring Barry and tell him I'll do it after this has all blown over." The President looked at his watch. "Anything else?"

"Just one." Leo looked at a piece of paper. "Seems the National Weather Service are mulling on a potential situation over the southern great plains overnight Monday into Tuesday. Potentially significant tornado outbreak."

"They've been warning the public?"

"Yes Sir, they're looking at the atmospheric data again this afternoon, If they think it warrants it, they'll issue a PDS watch on Monday morning."

"PDS watch?" The President queried as he drained his cup and stood up.

"Potentially dangerous situation."

"Which States?"

Leo re-examined his sheet of Paper.

"Central and eastern Oklahoma, Kansas and the south-eastern part of Nebraska."

"OK, we'll talk about it again later this afternoon. I'm heading over to meet McNally, then I'm going over to the Residence. Anything new, come get me."

"Thank you, Mr President." Leo watched Bartlet leave then headed back to his own office, papers still tucked under his arm.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note - Thanks for all the comments and reviews.

**WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING ROOM**

C.J. waited next in the wings out-of-site of the press corps settling down waiting for the conference to begin. Beside her was Carol, adjusting the tie of a US Army intelligence Colonel by the name of Paul Mitchell, who would be taking technical questions and who, if the fawning was any indication, had made quite an impression on Carol.

"Keep it simple, Colonel. This is the Washington press, they won't be familiar with complex military...you know...jargon. If you don't know the answer, say so. If you lie to them, they'll smell the blood in the water."

"It's fine, Miss Cregg. This isn't my first dance."

"Please don't call me Miss Cregg, it makes me sound like a spinster with too many cats." She batted Carol's hands off his tie. "Now, If my assistant can keep her hands to herself, let's get this going."

C.J. walked onto the podium and Mitchell stood at the back quietly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, shall we get started? There might be one or two of you who, contrary to all evidence, actually do have loved ones who don't just tolerate but actively look forward to your company on a Sunday." She waited for the last few to take their seats. "That's right Mark, take your time. The Raiders kick off in an hour but I'd much rather be in here waiting for you to find somewhere to balance your Mountain Dew."

Satisfied that everyone was ready, C.J. introduced Colonel Mitchell and set the parameters of the press conference.

"I'll start by reading a joint White House/DoD statement. We'll then take some questions. Please direct questions relating to military or strategic matters to Colonel Mitchell, and policy questions to me. As this is the Colonel's first time here, and he doesn't know and love you as I do, don't forget to preface your question with your name and media outlet."

C.J. paused a second before starting on the joint statement.

"As you will be aware, overnight, significant elements of the Russian Military, localised, we believe, in the Northern, Urals and Volga military districts, began the first stages of a military coup in Russia. The current situation is confused, as the rebel military units were successfully able to create significant interuptions in both power supply and Radio and Television broadcasts in major cities across Russia. Alongside this, there have been numerous acts of sabotage focussing on major east-west transportation networks, particularly road bridges and rail tracks. It is our initial view that these acts of sabotage were undertaken by elements of the Russian Spetznatz, their special forces, and demonstrate considerable forward planning and organisation by the leaders of the attempted coup."

"At the present time, Russian state Radio and TV are not broadcasting. The United States government, through it's embassies in Moscow, St Petersburg and Vladivostok, have been unable to speak to President Chigorin or elements of his administration. We have not yet heard from the organisers of the attempted coup. Fighting is currently confined to Perm, Makhachkala, Vladikavkaz and Saratov as far as we are aware, however there have been air attacks on other cities, including Moscow. These appear to be limited to military targets at this stage. There is evidence of major mobilisation of forces on both sides."

"The President has spent the morning consulting with military and national security advisers, and discussing the situation with NATO leaders and others. We continue to watch the situation closely. There is no evidence that this situation will spread beyond the borders of Russia, however in order to assist those NATO members with shared borders with Russia, The President will be discussing options with President Manyuev of Ukraine later today. He will also be making a televised address to the Nation at 8pm eastern tonight."

"The United States Government may have had criticisms of some elements of the recent Russian presidential elections, nevertheless, our relations with the Russian people in general and President Chigorin's administration in particular have been cordial and strong. Whatever flaws may have been identified during the Presidential Election, this democratic outcome is better by far than the imposition of military rule through violence. The United States wishes to make the clearest statement possible to those organising this violent uprising. We will not recognise you as legitimate, we will not work with you on international matters and we will do our utmost to ensure that nobody in the international community does so either. You face a stark choice - return to your barracks and cede control back to the proper civilian authorities, or face a future as an international Pariah."

CJ looked up from her notes.

"Colonel Mitchell and I will now take questions."

The room erupted in noise and hands thrust skyward. The din was incredible, and whilst Colonel Mitchell looked genuinely surprised by the commotion, CJ just shrugged.

"Wes, you first."

"Wesley Hampton, CNN. How did this happen under our nose without us picking up on it until it was underway?"

"Well Wes," CJ began. "Unless you have a Dacha in Rostov-on-Don, I'm not sure halfway around the world qualifies as 'under our nose'. This was and is a well planned and carefully executed operation. The German and French intelligence services and the British MI6 were in the same situation we were." She looked around the room. "Joanne."

"Joanne McMullen, New York Times. Have Russian nuclear weapons been compromised?"

Colonel Mitchell stepped forward to answer that one.

"There is no evidence of that. We have been monitoring Russian strategic assets and there is no sign of a change in alert status or operational activity."

"Laura." CJ indicated.

"Laura Smith, Los Angeles Times. Is the President discussing options for military intervention."

"Not at this time." CJ answered curtly. "Danny."

"Danny Concannon, Washington Post. Is there a direct link between the situation in Russia and the deployment of three E-4B command planes from Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska?"

Again, Mitchell stepped forward.

"There is not, it's purely coincidental, the E-4Bs are currently part of an Air Force command exercise."

CJ looked at Danny and recognised the look on his face, but she carried on regardless.

"O.K. one more. Mark."

"Mark O'Donnell, Dallas Morning News. Does CIA Chief George Rollie still enjoy the complete confidence of President Bartlet?"

"Yes Mark, he does. As I said earlier, this one went under everyone's radar. OK that's all folks. Go home to the loving arms of whichever bar you normally spend Sunday afternoon in."

CJ got back to her office only to find that Danny was already waiting for her.

"How do you DO that?" She brushed past him and went to her desk. "Did you dig a tunnel between the Briefing Room and my office?"

"I'm a manly man, CJ. I jogged."

CJ laughed.

"Please, you're like a ginger-haired Santa Claus in civillian clothes."

"O.K., that's a little hurtful, but I do bring joy at Christmas."

"What do you want Danny?"

"I'd like to know where Colonel Mitchell plays cards, he's got a lousy poker face. Did he really pull that 'exercise' answer and expect it to stick?"

"What do you want me to say Danny? I did warn him that he was heading into the shark tank."

"So the E-4 deployment is related to the Russian situation?"

C.J. sighed.

"What do you think? And how did you know they were being deployed?"

It was Danny's turn to smile.

"They're 747s CJ, did you really think no-one would notice one landing in rural Delaware? Can I quote you on that last thing?"

"Hell no."

"Can I say a White House source?"

"Knock yourself out."

Danny paused for a second.

"How bad is it?"

C.J. looked at him.

"Honestly Danny, I don't know."

**ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, MARYLAND**

Josh and Donna watched the large, white and blue painted converted airliner wobble out of a cool blue sky towards the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base. It taxied to the end of the runway and crawled slowly towards them, finally coming to a stop in front of a large hanger on a tarmac apron five hundred yards from where they were stood. As they watched, mobile staircases and an aviation fuel tanker busied themselves round the aircraft like worker bees round the queen.

The E4 looked a lot like a normal Boeing 747, but it's fuselage had a number of bumps and humps that were not present on the commercial version of the aircraft and these gave the aircraft an odd silhouette, that made both of them feel uneasy.

It was cool on the tarmac, not wintery, but cold enough to remind Josh and Donna that Christmas was only a month away. There had already been snow over the northern plains states and the low temperature was betrayed by the steam and noticable heat haze generated by the E4's engines. Josh stamped his feet and wished hed brought more than a topcoat with him.

Neither Josh nor Donna really knew what they were doing. Josh had flown frequently enough on Air Force One, but never without The President being on board, so he leaned over to Oscar Martinez, the Secret Service agent that Ron Butterfield had assigned to manage Roger Tribbey's new secret service detail.

"What happens now?"

"As soon as the ramps are in place, the flight commander will come down and meet us. We'll get back in the air as soon as we've refuelled and got everyone on board."

There were six secret service agents detailed to Daywatch and two of them were chatting to Donna as Josh looked at the big aircraft sat in front of them. He really had no idea what he was supposed to do. He'd already decided that Donna was going to liaise with the Secret Service detail, as well as manage the logistical parts of the flight, but his own background was in domestic matters and he always felt nervous and underqualified when he was asked to engage in matters military. He reminded himself that Kate Harper would be there to help him out, but even so, it was enough to make him jittery. So much so that he didn't notice the Air Force officer walk up behind him.

"Mr Lyman? You can board now, Sir. We're refueling at the moment, so no smoking on the apron, and please turn your cell phone off until you're aboard."

Martinez crushed his cigarette under his heel.

"Last smoke until who knows when." he said to himself as Josh, Donna and the Secret Service team picked their bags up and started towards the aircraft. As they approached Daywatch, the group were split up, with the Secret Sevice team directed towards the rear stairs and Josh and Donna hustled towards the front set of stairs. They were greeted at the top by a three star Air Force General who reminded Josh a little of Walter Matthau.

"Welcome to Daywatch, Mr Lyman, Miss Moss. I'm General Frank Robinson, I'm the ranking officer on board this afternoon Sir." He offered his hand, and Josh shook it. "We'll be refuelling for another 20 minutes or so, with wheels up at around 14:30 hours." He started showing them to the front of the aircraft and into a small office space. "This is the Secretary of Agriculture's office whilst he's on board. You'll be located on the deck above, but you can wait here until we're in the air." Robinson waited whilst Josh and Donna sat down. An air force officer stowed their bags. "I'll introduce you to the flight crew and the heads of operation when we're in the air. We'll be flying to Adams Field at Little Rock, rather than trying to land at Grider Field at Pine Bluff. The book says we could just about land daywatch at Grider, but it would be pretty tight, and they're not equipped to handle a mission like this. Secret Service agents from the Little Rock are taking Shepherd from Pine Bluffs to Little Rock as we speak."

Josh looked confused until he realised that Shepherd was the Secret Service code name for Tribbey. Inspite of himself, he caught himself smiling.

"Am I OK to use this now?" Josh waved his Blackberry at General Robinson.

"Mr Lyman, Daywatch was designed to fly between nuclear explosions, so I don't think a cell phone is a problem. Alternatively, you can use the satellite phone on the desk." Robinson moved towards the door. "I'll get one of the Stewards to bring a pot of coffee in before we take off. If you need me, pick the phone on the desk up and dial 1"

Josh nodded and Robinson left the cramped office in the nose of the aircraft, closing the door behind him. Donna and Josh sat staring at each other for a second not really knowing what to do.

"Now what?" Donna sighed, observing her surroundings nervously.

"Leo will know..." Josh replied, punching buttons on his blackberry.

TBC


End file.
